Just Your Toy
by MS-Manuscript
Summary: “You are a TOY!” Woody shouted. “No, no I’m not. I’m Doctor Horrible.” Billy pointed at the poster on the wall; at the 50’s art-style version of himself. “And I need your help going back to Dr. Horrible.”
1. Stings

Toy story belongs to **Joss Whedon,** Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, and Alec Sokolow, as well as Disney and Pixar.

Dr. Horrible belong to **Joss Whedon**, Jed Whedon, Zack Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen.

Not me.

* * *

Captain Hammer sighed as he picked up the fallen ray gun, lifting the dull blue thing to the light to see its name in silver on the side.

"'_**Stuff Ray.' You're really hurtin' for ideas, huh?**_" He glanced down at the villain, trapped under his feet.

"It's supposed to stuff you, make you really fat, so you can't move." Dr. Horrible's muffled voice rose from the pavement. Poor guy was face-down in a puddle, trying to keep his nose and mouth out of it to breathe. Huh, right, poor guy, uh-huh. Clearing his throat Hammer shifted a little more weight onto Billy's back, relishing in the cracks of bones and groans of pain.

"_**Doctor, you should know by now, I'll **_**never**_** be fat. Let alone let you win. Give up?**_"

"No."

"_**Sounds like a plan to me.**_" He took his other foot off the pavement, the whimper from Horrible being enough to put it on his back instead of back on the ground. He had to admit, Horrible had great posture; made an awesome platform to stand on.

"Get OFF!" Billy wheezed, knowing he could take only so much weight before he passed out. Trying to shake Hammer off was easier said than done, and with Hammer, nothing was ever easily said. "Please, come on, I can't breathe!"

"_**Let's make a deal. I'll let you up. And you can run. But if I hit you with your gun, I take you to jail.**_" Billy paused in his struggle, trying to figure out what Hammer meant. Now, it could go both ways; Hammer could literally throw the gun and hit Billy with it; in which case he'd probably be dead from the impact and it wouldn't matter… or Hammer could shoot him with the gun; where he'd be five tons and lucky to be able to move let alone have a cell in jail before the effects wear off and he can run again. Choices choices.

"Deal." Right now, he just wanted air.

"_**You have until five**_." The boots were off his back, "_**One. Three**_.-" Aw shoot! Billy scrambled to his feet, taking off crazily all limbs and smock down the alley.

"_**FIVE!**_" Billy felt the cold beam of the ray hit him in the back, making him scream out as ice griped his heart and seized his lungs. The brick wall in front of him phased out, and he hit the ground once again.

Hammer waited, watching as Billy's body seized in mid-step, causing him to fall sideways behind a dumpster. So he waited again, hoping to see a huge Dr. Horrible expand out until he was stuck between the walls. But nothing happened. Slightly annoyed (but not surprised) Hammer tramped into the alley, gun pointed at where Horrible fell.

"_**I see you failed. Again. Doctor, really, give up these ray-guns, they never wor…**_" The words faded from his lips as he saw what had become of his nemesis. A moment passed, then a second one, and in the third one Hammer dropped the gun and bent double, laughing until tears dripped from his chin.

"_**You've got to be kidding me! Doc, Doc, your gun worked! You're **__**stuffed**__** alright!**_" At his feet lay, face-down, a Dr. Horrible marionette. "_**You're a toy! God, I can't believe it! You made yourself a toy! Hahahaha! And I always thought you to be a teddy bear!**_" Big fingers wrapped around the chest of the toy, lifting it into the air to get a good look at it.

It looked just like Horrible! Only, made out of wood… articulated joints flopped around uselessly under the white smock, shrunken to fit the foot-tall doll. The painted face on the carved wood looked so real; there were two shining taxidermy-like blue eyes and even a painted grin! Big ears sat under a glued-on blond wig complete with goggles resting on his forehead. It even had gloves and shoes! Strings lead from various parts of its body to a cross-piece that hung limply, un-used by Hammer.

"_**This is perfect.**_" Hammer admired the quality of the puppet. The gun did a really good job. Wait… how good? Lifting up the smock he pulled down the small-doll trousers, smirking at the featureless body of wood. "_**Okay, your gun did fail. I've seen you without a shirt on, seriously. You're not as fit as me, but you're no flat piece of wood either. But it got one thing right, you still have no balls!**_"

"Hey! Where's Doc?" Hammer turned as Moist's voice greeted him, hiding the puppet quickly.

"_**Ran off!**_" Hammer watched as the frantic henchman ran down the street, trying to find his friend. Pulling the doll around again, Hammer gave an evil little smile. "_**Boy, I know just what to do with you**_."


	2. Wake

Hammer remembered his uncle taking him in when Hammer was just a kid. Growing up with your uncle that hated kids was not a pleasant experience. At ten years old Jason's toys were all he had left in the world. Two dead parents and a burnt-house didn't make for a wonderful life, so all he had was the G.I. Joe action figure he had in his backpack at school the day his home burned down. His uncle picked him up, took him home, locked him in a room, and told him to stay there. Two days later, Joe was found in fifteen different pieces around the living room.

"_No kid I'm gonna raise is gonna be no pussy._" Jason learned quickly that toys were not permitted inside the house. So when it came to the Dr. Horrible puppet in his hands, Hammer was torn.

This was a person. True, it was a villain, his sworn enemy, the bad-guy. But it was still a person. No matter how many times he beat the dude into a pulp and almost killed him, he was held back by the memory of the kid he had battled and drank with all those years ago. True, it was only four years ago, but still. When your nemesis invites you to his graduation with his second Ph.D. eight weeks ago, you have a soft-spot for him. That's why no other Hero could touch Horrible; he was Hammer's only. This piece of wood was a person, a young adult, Doctor Horrible. His ray gun had turned him into a marionette.

But at the same time, he was a toy. The Hero in Hammer told him that it's a person, don't touch it, get him some help, fix him. But that deep old part of Hammer told him it was a toy, it needed to disappear. He wasn't some pussy, he had to show that. Captain Hammer could not be found playing with puppets or dolls. So, so what was he going to do? He took Horrible home, with the ray-gun, and sat both of them on the table. He watched them for hours, trying to come up with something to do to them. He could zap the thing again; see if it turns him back into Horrible? But he didn't know how the gun worked, and from the looks of it neither did Horrible. Stuff Ray, supposed to make him fat.

Hammer wasn't stupid. He just didn't like having to think. Because when you think, things like this happen. It was so much easier just to _do_. Rubbing his face he fixed himself a pot of coffee and leaned against the counter. Maybe he should give the thing back to Moist? Maybe the wet man knew something of what went wrong and could fix it? Hammer doubted it, but it was worth a shot. No, no it wasn't. Because if anything, the Union would get on him about putting their member out of work. It was "beyond his contract" or some kind of bull shit the union liked to spit out.

He could always just pretend he didn't know what happened to Horrible. They had their weekly fight, then he just disappeared. Sure, that could work. He could just donate the toy to some kid's fund or whatever, make him look good. Yeah… yeah! The children's cancer fund or something stupid like that, yeah, they'd love a Dr. Horrible doll! Or he could just throw him out.

He liked that much better.

So the thinking stopped, and Hammer leaned out of his window, aimed, and chucked the wooden doll into his neighbor's trashcan. Perfect! Now he didn't have to think about it.

Problem solved.

The next morning before the sun rose the trash-truck arrived right on time, lifting the grey container up emptying the recyclables into its gaping maw. Then it put the can down, driving on, oblivious to the human-turned-doll within its holdings. An hour later, Hammer woke with a jolt; he had dreamt that just as the wooden doll reached the grinder to become re-used paper, the gun wore off. Running down stairs he tossed on a pair of pants before wrenching the door open, dashing to his neighbor's cans. They were empty. He'd never find Horrible now.

The truck rumbled on well into the day-light hours, the wooden Dr. Horrible wrapped in a plastic bag under a truck-full of junk. Were this any other time Billy would have been in heaven; tons of electronics and little do-dads to play with and make into something cool. But right now, Billy wasn't thinking anything. By noon the back hatch opened, pouring the contents of the truck out into a heap at the dump. Seagulls flocked overhead, screaming and crowing at each other as they picked at the trash, finding nothing to their liking. They were in the wrong section; they wanted trash and got recycling instead. But it didn't stop them from digging and trying to find something to eat. One pulled at a plastic bag when something white and large dropped out of it, scaring the feathered scavenger into flight again. Billy, or, the wooden Billy, lay tangled in his strings, face-down once again.

A group of boys turned a corner, throwing trash and gunk and heaven-knew-what at each other as they laughed up a storm. Fred ducked behind a cement slab the size of a dumpster, hearing the splats of rotten eggs hitting the side. Grinning like crazy he put his hand down to find a piece of ammo… then he took a look at what he grabbed.

"Hey! Hey guys, check this out!" He stood up, ducking back down when more eggs were thrown at him. "Cease fire cease fire! Really, dudes, check this!" Glancing around, finding there were no foul-smelling missiles coming his way, he ran out and showed off his prize.

Still white, still without a mark, Billy lay limp in the hand that had grabbed him.

"DUDE! My grandpa used to make those! They're like puppets or something."

"Why would someone throw this thing out? It looks brand new!"

"Bet we could make a buck off of it on Craigslist or something. Even Ebay if we're lucky."

"Nah, it's been a long time since we've had a sacrifice to the gods." Fred's two friends looked at his suggestion with glee. Yes, they could so have a bon-fire tonight!

"But wait, the strings."

"Right you are, Dan?" "Dan" pulled out a knife, taking great care to remove the strings from the puppet right down to the wood. They took great pride in their "ritual."

"Hey! Dan, Fred, Chuck, what's up?!" The three were like meerkats, turning their heads as Andy's voice floated over the ocean of waste. They quickly hid the creature they were about to torture and burn right there in the garbage. They knew how much Andy loved toys, they had seen his room and his pristine amount of child-like fun.

"Nothing."

"That's not a nothing nothing. You're leaving me out!"

"Duh!"

"Chuck!"

"What?"

"Spill guys."

Chuck, who never really liked the burning of toys in the first place, snatched Dr. Horrible out of Fred's hands and shoved it into Andy's.

"WOAH COOL! Dude, this is the guy Captain Hammer's beating up in my poster on my wall!"

"Huh?"

"Oh come on." Andy rolled his eyes, stuffing Horrible in his back pocket. "You know Captain Hammer don't you?!"

"Yeah."

"This is his nemesis! It's Doctor Horrible! He's so cool."

In the end, Andy won out; there were no rituals that evening. As the sun set, Andy dumped his backpack on the floor by his desk, pulling Dr. Horrible out of it and laying him gently on the table top. It looked so good! He fully intended on exploring his new toy when there was a knock on his door.

"Andy? We're going to dinner, want to come?" In a flash the teen was up and out the door. The car started, and drove off. From the bed Woody lifted his head, listening to the sound of tires leaving.

"Alright everyone, they're gone!" The room came to life, toys stirring all over the place again. They had gone to their places a few hours ago when Andy's Mom had opened the door to vacuum. Now with everyone gone they knew they would have free-range for a while. Instantly everyone crowded around the foot of the desk. They wanted to know about the new-comer. Buzz cupped his hands together, lacing his fingers and proving a place for Jessie to get a good foot-hold. Pulling on Woody's hand, the cow-girl hoisted her friend up onto her shoulders, where he reached the top drawer and pulled himself up. Once on top, Woody turned on the light to get a good look at the new doll. Nudging him slightly with a booted-toe, the cowboy nodded to Jessie that it was fine for them to come up.

Billy felt a shock go through him, twitching when something touched him and groaning softly. God how his head hurt! Coughing slightly he let his eyes fall closed, blinking before the world came into focus.

"Howdy!"

"AH!" Billy squeaked as the pointed-nosed man above him grinned and waved. Curling up tight Billy scuttled across the wooden top, goggles falling into his eyes.

"WHOAREYOUWHEREAMIWHATHAPPENED?!"

Buzz looked to his friends, shrugging at the antics of the man who had just hit the wall.

"Calm down, you're okay." Jessie knelt by the freaking mad scientist evil genius, patting his shoulder kindly. "Welcome to Andy's room!"


	3. Right

Rex shuffled from one foot to the other, fiddling with his short arms as he waited to find out what was going on. Ham nudged him, shaking his head. They had heard a scream a while ago, but now everything was quiet. Maybe it was a garage-sale toy? That'd be bad, really bad. They were the ones that freaked out the most. No one liked the idea of being sold by someone they think loved them.

Up on the desk Jessie had her arms around the lump of wood, whispering calmingly to him. The poor guy had woken up in a strange place with three strange toys standing over him; she could understand what he was up against. Woody and Buzz stood to the side, deciding what to do with him.

"He's out of his mind, that's clear. No one has _this_ bad of an adjustment to moving. You don't think he came from someone like Sid, do you?"

"You seem to have forget how I felt when I found out I was a toy. Give him time, he'll calm down and talk to us. I think it's just he doesn't know where he is."

"I just hope it doesn't end up like you. I am _not_ traipsing around the country convincing this guy that he's not real."

"You won't have to worry about that." Woody and Buzz turned as Jessie stepped up behind them, grinning like mad. She had her arm around the wooden shoulders of their newest member, who was hunched over with his eyes (no longer behind goggles) on the ground. "He knows what he is, don't you Billy?"

Billy wasn't sure what he believed or thought. He was in a strange place, on top of a strange desk, only a foot tall and very very alone. He brought up his hands, pulling off a glove to see the jointed wooden fingers they hid. His wrist was a joint now, not skin and bone. Everything was wood and glass. He didn't have to breathe now, he was wood. It felt so strange, because he wanted to swallow the lump that was forming in a throat that didn't exist. He blinked glass eyes only because it was habit, rather than out of need. He didn't trust his voice, so he merely nodded in agreement. Better to just concur with everything said and figure out where you are than to disprove everything and still be lost. At least this way he could get some help.

"Well hey-howdy-hey then partner! What's your name?" Woody knew it, Jessie had said it. But he wanted this new toy to talk. It had to. He knew it could, he had heard it. It was just a matter of getting it to do so again.

"Dr. Horrible." Buzz blinked at the response. That wasn't the name Jessie called him by. "And I need to get back home."

"I don't know if that's possible buddy." Jessie tried to be helpful, but she had to admit it would be pretty hard to do. "If you were sold your person doesn't want you back, and trying to convince Andy that he's got to give up his new toy would be a heart-break."

"I wasn't sold, I was…" what was he? Slipping his glove back on Billy lifted his head, standing upright once again. "I think I was thrown out. And I didn't belong to anyone. That _coward_ threw me out!" That was the only thing he could think of. He wasn't conscious after the ray had hit him, but he knew he was by a bunch of trashcans. Bits and pieces were coming together, but not enough, and not fast enough.

"You had to belong to someone if they threw you out. Come on, let's get you introduced to the rest of the gang, what do you say?" Change the topic, clever Woody. Billy didn't want to deal with this right now. He had to get home, had to get his Stuff Ray and fix it and get him out of this mess! But he wasn't going to get through to these guys, not yet anyway. They didn't know him; they didn't understand what was going on. So he had to play along, get them to trust him…

THEN he could go home! Sighing, Billy nodded his consent. What could be the worst that could happen?

Okay, so in retrospect, maybe looking down from the height of the desk should have been his first omen that things weren't going to go so well. Freaking out because of how high he was from the ground and grabbing onto Buzz was not the smartest idea. Even more so when you thought about how Billy didn't even know _their_ names yet. They knew his, but he didn't know theirs. They were more concerned about trying to get him to realize he had a "new owner" than introductions. So when he grabbed the space toy and tried to get away from the edge, it was inevitable that they would fall. And fall they did. That's when Billy realized that being made of wood had its advantages; like you didn't feel the pain of plummeting to the ground. His mind still stuck on live-or-die the instant he touched the ground he curled into a ball, trying to suck in air that wouldn't come. He couldn't breathe! 'Ohmygodican'tbreathei'mgoingtodie!' Ran through his head over and over again until Buzz pulled him open and stood him up. His mind whipped blank, and Dr. Horrible patted himself down. He was okay, he was alive! A shaky sigh escaped him, only to be yelped back as a green dinosaur stuck his tiny arm in Billy's face.

"Hia! I'm Rex!"

"AHH!"

"Well, that was rude. Was it something I said?" Knocking wood could be heard coming from behind Jessie. Oh yeah, it was clear that Billy found her to be safe. Buzz glared at his back, a green streak running through him. He's just scared, he's not trying to take Jessie, he's just scared… bah. His eyes wandered, catching sight of Slink. Perfect. Grabbing the dog the spaceman then took Jessie's arm and switched them, shoving the slinky dog into the puppet's arms.

"WHA-?"

"Hey there!"

"AH!" Billy let go, turning and scrambling/tripping over his feet with limbs are lankier than he remembered, racing to get under the desk. The whole room watched as the flash of white faded into the shadow. Then they all looked at Woody.

"Heh." The cowboy scratched under his hat, slumping a bit as he worked out something to explain his behavior. "First day?" He shrugged. They bought it.

"Look, just give him some time. I know you all want to meet him and are excited. But his owner threw him away. He's probably high-strung because of it. Let him get used to Andy and he'll come around. Here, just stand here, give me a moment." Jogging, he waved away Bullseye Jessie and Buzz. He wanted to do this alone. He found Billy curled up tight between the desk leg the bed leg and the wall, deep into the dark.

"Hey, hey, you okay?"

"Where am I?" Woody sat on the ground beside the wooden doll, stretching his legs out in front of him and lacing his fingers in his lap.

"You're in Andy's room."

"But all those, those… _things_ out there!"

"I'm guessing your room only had puppets and dolls, huh?"

"What room? My room is a laboratory!"

"Your owner didn't have any other toys?! Well, that explains a lot."

"What?"

"You had science stuff, right? So there was no one to talk too. And there was no reason to wake up when your owner left, that'd be why you didn't move until Jessie and Buzz and I moved you."

"No, no, you don't get it." What happened to the "just agree don't worry about it" from on top the desk? Was he just going to throw that out now? On top the desk everything was okay, everything was mostly human and there were only a few of them and he could totally deal with that. But here, on the ground, there were toys that were bigger than he was, there were talking animals and radios and games of all kinds. He wanted to go back to his lab, to sit by the fridge, to try and make dinner before Moist took over to keep the apartment from burning down. This… this was too much.

"I'm not a toy. I mean, yeah, I am. I… look. I know I'm a toy right now. I know I'm made of wood and glass. But I'm not really a toy. I'm human. I'm Doctor Horrible, and I had an invention that my nemesis stole from me and turned me into a doll with. I'm not really a toy, really." Woody gave Billy the strangest look he could muster. Whatever happened to this guy really wonked his head. Billy buried his face in his hands, shoulders sagging. He had just graduated with his second Ph.D.! This was not supposed to be happening!

"Billy, I, I don't know what to say. That's a strange story with a stranger ending. I don't know what happened to you, but you have to realize that we're not going to hurt you. You're a toy, we don't hurt other toys."

"So just play along basically."

"Why would you play along? It's true."

"Yeah, yeah I know."

"Friends?" Woody held out a hand to shake. Billy had no idea what just happened here, but he knew he wasn't going to win this day. So he shook the doll's hand, allowing the old toy to help him up. Hiding slightly behind Woody, Billy followed him out to the light again, letting him introduce everyone to him and him to everyone. He didn't pay attention to the names; he tried not to look at any of them. He didn't want to deal with this. He, he… he just wanted to go back home to his supersized chair and his over-wet henchman friend. When everyone finally left to play games and attend to their nightly life, Billy was left alone by the desk to watch. Jessie and Buzz were arm-in-arm, strolling around the room and chatting. Bo and Woody were sitting by her sheep, doing roughly the same thing. Slink, Ham, Mr. Potato Head, and Bullseye were romping around, playing keep-away from Rex. On the whole, the entire room was full of life and sound and fun. And Billy sat, on the floor, trying hard not to cry tears that would never exist. He was a toy.

Climbing back up onto the desk some time later Billy sat by the lamp, gazing around the room, taking in a pre-teen's domain. There were toys everywhere, books and posters littered the walls. There was a bit of everything here; childhood fantasy and games slowly giving way to school work and girls. Billy wondered if the toys knew that their time in Andy's world was drawing to a close. As he looked about, one poster caught Billy's eye. It was in the fifties style, very drive-in-diner-esk. It was of Captain Hammer. No surprise there, really. Big, tall, with a puffed out chest and perfect hair even in the drawing of him. And in his hand, held by the front of his lab coat, was a pathetic looking Doctor Horrible. Just wonderful. He had his goggles over his eyes. You couldn't even tell if he was getting hit or not, which Billy had to admit was kind of nice.

"Andy's home!" A voice shook Billy out of his musings of the artistic rendering of himself, watching the toys scatter and take up very stiff looking positions around the room. Instint told Billy to do the same. He was drawn to one spot on the desk. He stood there as Woody climbed up and turned off the lamp before racing to Buzz and the bed. Collapsing in a boneless heap, Billy promised himself he'd get out of this wacko town.


End file.
